Orkney
by Albion19
Summary: Elijah offers to help Elena change her nightmares into dreams. A nostalgic look back at the past and more ensues. Post 3x12. Elejah.


_Note: This was written for a kink meme on LJ. The prompt was "Dream Walk." This is the second half of a much longer fic but I decided to just post this part. For context Elijah has come to Elena to apologise and after hearing the truth about his mother's death she takes pity on him and offers him the couch to crash on for the night._

_First time writing for these two. Eek! Hope you enjoy._

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><p>It's a reckless decision, allowing him to stay here. He thinks she's well aware of this but she's so eager to accept him back into the fold that her trust has stretched even this far. Maybe he's being naive, maybe she's thinking in terms of his usefulness, gaining him as an ally. If that is her motivation then he can't blame her, not when she's constantly under threat. He would do much the same himself.<p>

Still he finds it difficult to accept her magnitude of forgiveness. He shouldn't be shocked at this, not when she has consistently surprised him in the past. She is not someone to underestimate. Her bravery and skills of negotiation are apparent but this is different. This is so much more intimate. He's never felt so vulnerable. So raw. And she is witness to it.

The betrayal of Klaus has unleashed in him a righteous anger that he's barely known, one that he tries to keep a rein on. But it flicks out of him, like a fire exposed to gusts of air. Mixed with this is shame and disappointment; shame that he had to break a deal and disappointment that he fell for Klaus's deception. But that anger pales into comparison to what he is experiencing now. Learning the truth about his mother, about the lie that Klaus has spun for over a thousand years has affected him deeply. It goes beyond betrayal, past rage. It's something so huge, so powerful that he can't bear to think on it.

He once told Katrina that he does not love but that is a lie, one that is all too evident now. Klaus played on it, his one weakness and he has paid the consequences.

_Love makes fools of us all, big and little..._

He is dragged away from his melancholy by a sharp intake of breath and a choked sob. Above him Elena has awoken abruptly. Her heart beats loud and fast in his ears and he realises that he's been straining to hear her for the last hour. He sits up on the couch but does not stand. Her footsteps pad above him, out of her room and then quietly down the stairs.

"Are you OK?"

She pauses at the sight of him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

Elijah shakes his head and gets to his feet. "I couldn't sleep." He moves to her side. He can still hear her heart racing.

Elena sighs and walks into the kitchen. "It's nothing, just a nightmare." She searches through a drawer until she pulls out a box of sleeping pills. At Elijah's worried gaze she smiles. "I used to have trouble sleeping at night, after my parents died. These helped me sleep...well they stopped me dreaming which was the main problem."

"And it's ongoing?"

"No, it's recently started again. Since Jenna…" She looks down at the pill box to avoid his eyes and groans. "And they're out of date, great."

Elijah stares at her for a moment, internally struggling with a thought. "I might be able to help, if you're willing."

"Willing?" She frowns at him and he moves closer to her.

"I can't stop you from having nightmares but I can change it. You can dream untroubled."

She looks unsure. "You'll control what I dream?"

"I'll...construct it, but it's your subconscious. I'll be in your mind, that's why I'm asking."

Elena pours herself some water, thinking and he waits patiently as she sips. Finally she nods. "OK. But if it's too weird I want you to go."

"Of course."

She stands there awkwardly, her bare feet slanted inwards. "Do you - uh - do you have to be in the room or...?"

"No, I can do it from down here. Young vampires need to be close but that won't be necessary for me."

"OK." She smiles but still seems a little uneasy as she makes her way back to the staircase. Elijah stops her before she ascends.

"What is your nightmare about?"

"Drowning...it's more a memory then a nightmare." She smiles weakly and he lets go of her arm. He watches her go up. As she reaches her bedroom her dry voice drifts down to him. "It'll probably take me hours to get to sleep now..."

Elijah smiles and settles back down onto the couch. He listens to her breathing, waiting for it to slow and deepen. He regulates his own breathing, focusing on it but does not sleep. If he does then he'll be sucked into her dreams, mercy to her subconscious.

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><p>The water crashes against the shore, sending sea foam up over rocks and sand. Her hair whips back and forth in the wind and she gasps at the strength of it. Dark grey clouds hang heavy over head, promising rain. The sea is choppy and waves roll up as far as she can see. She watches them approach, feeling strangely exhilarated.<p>

"Windy enough?"

She turns and finds Elijah standing next to her. He's dressed in a long dark coat that hangs undisturbed. Not a hair stirs. Elena smoothes her own hair down and suddenly it feels like a gentle breeze is blowing instead of a gale. In the distance she can see trees waving, bent over from years of standing against this wind.

"Is this a dream?"

"Yes...and also a memory."

Elena squints and looks out at the cold roaring sea and frowns. "I've never been here."

"I have. It's Orkney."

"Orkney?"

He nods and holds out a hand. Elena takes it and they begin to walk slowly. "The Mainland to be exact. This island is just off the tip of Scotland. There's thousands of little islands around Britain, this is one of them."

"So you visited here once?"

He nods again. "I lived here with my parents for awhile. I told you that we came from Eastern Europe and travelled to America. This was on the way." He leads her away from the beach and Elena suddenly finds herself amidst a rugged landscape, purple heather growing wherever she looks. She turns and can just make out the beach they had stood on.

"There's a cave in Mystic Falls, with carvings on the wall. Ric said they're Viking."

"The cave..." Elijah smiles nostalgically for a moment. "That's what we were for all intense and purposes. My mother was originally from Norway. She travelled, met my father and settled in Eastern Europe. She was fourteen when she had her first child."

"Wow." Elena's eyebrows shoot up and he smirks at her.

"You weren't expected to live past fifty in most cases, so people got married young back then..."

"Even you?" The question is heedless and she holds her breath.

He stares at her intensely and the roar of the sea and wind dies into nothing. "I was thirty when I was turned." He gazes at her and even though he doesn't voice it she just knows.

"You were married?"

He says nothing and begins walking again and Elena stares after him with wide eyes.

"My parent's first born died from plague. My mother convinced my father, with her friend's advice, to move back west. I was born a year later and I spent my first five years in Orkney." He stops when the pine trees suddenly thin out and Elena sees that they're at the edge of a small village.

A tall young woman, clearly pregnant, calls for a young boy to follow her. He's small and dark and Elena feels her heart miss a beat when she catches sight of his strangely grave face.

"That's you." Elijah says nothing, only looks on at the scene with an aching sadness that he can't hide. Elena takes his hand in hers and before she knows it she's wrapping herself around him. Elijah stands still and unmoving until finally his arms circle around her waist and he holds her gently.

"You must think I'm a sentimental old fool." He whispers against her neck and Elena pulls back.

"No, of course not. After what I told you it's natural that you'll turn back to memories like this. You were happy." She looks over his shoulder to see Esther chasing him back into their dwelling as the rain begins to fall.

"I wanted you to have pleasant dreams; not to witness my nostalgia in action."

She cocks her head and grips his shoulders firmly. "I want to be here. It's not like I'll be able to see this for real. It's like I've time travelled!" Suddenly she laughs in delight and he can't help but respond to it. Swept up by her happiness and the dream he leans down and presses his mouth to hers. The action is spontaneous and even as it startles him a part of him sighs with relief. She is something deeply precious to him. He can not deny or ignore it any longer.

Her mouth opens under his as she inhales in surprise and he pulls her against him, not wanting to end it. The hands gripping his shoulders fist his coat once before she tentatively kisses him back. It's hesitant at first but as she gets used to the feel and taste of him she deepens it, pushing herself against him. He stumbles and his back hits a wall.

Elena opens her eyes and gazes at him. His stare is hot, hungry and she's so caught up she doesn't realise the change of location. They're in Elena's bedroom. As she pulls him towards the bed he stops with a great force of will.

"Are you sure?"

But she just smiles and kisses him again.

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><p>As is the nature of dreams progression takes no logical path. Another aspect of dreaming is the fact you don't know you're having it.<p>

Elijah battles to stay awake but after days without sleep and copious amounts of alcohol his eyelids droop and then finally flutter closed.

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><p>One moment he is kissing her by the wall, the next she is lying under him, half naked. He stares at her in confusion.<p>

"What's wrong?" She pants under him, her mouth swollen from his kisses. He brushes his lips against her cheek and then to her ear.

"Is this strange?" He pulls back.

"Strange?" She frowns at him in confusion.

"You said I should go if it gets weird."

She smiles gently and looks down for a moment. "This isn't weird. I don't want you to go...I don't want you to leave again." There is a weight to her words that convey something more then Elijah leaving her room.

"I'll stay, for now." He kisses her throat as she runs her hands through his shortened hair. He feels her teeth next to his ear.

"I like your hair." She breathes warm into his ear and he smiles. His hands run up her bare legs, stopping at her thighs. She arches off the bed as he pulls her underwear down and then plants small kisses up the inside of her thigh. She watches him from under her eyelashes, her mouth parted in anticipation. She inhales sharply when she feels first his thumb and then his tongue touch her and she jerks off the bed. He looks up at her with a tight lipped smile and grabs her hips, keeping her still.

Her hands fist the sheets as he licks her expertly and it's not long before she's shuddering and crying out, her hands moving to cradle his head. Fingers pull at his hair and he slowly makes his way back up her body, kissing her stomach as she lies sated under him. Naked and panting heavily he moves between her legs and pushes into her hard, making Elena groan. He stops and kisses her mouth softly, whispering words in an old dead language. He moves slowly, rolling his hips with a steady rhythm.

Her pleasure builds steadily, powerfully, a release that promises to crash over her, like waves pounding against a beach.

He reminds her of the sea.

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><p>He wakes with a roar of the tide in his ears and for a moment he's incredibly disorientated. But after taking in his surroundings he relaxes but grows troubled as he recalls the faint glimmers of the dream.<p>

_The sea. His old home. Elena._

It's drifting away now, like sand through his fingers. He gets to his feet and stops at the foot of the staircase. He looks upwards, debating to go up when someone clears their throat behind him. Elena stands in the doorway to the kitchen, a cup of coffee in her hands.

"Hi. Morning." She says awkwardly and Elijah feels his stomach drop.

"Elena...I'm sorry, I fell asleep."

"I don't really remember what happened."

He narrows his eyes at her and comes closer. "You don't?" He couldn't quite believe it, not when she seems so uncomfortable. If she is lying to save face then he is not going to stop her.

"What do you remember?"

She shrugs, looking into her coffee mug. "The beach, the village...A kiss." She looks back up, a little more composed. "You were probably dreaming."

A lie is on his tongue but it does not make it past his lips. "I wasn't. Not then." He looks down at her intensely. "I don't know why I did it. It won't happen again."

Her eyebrows raise and the corner of her mouth quirks. "You don't know why?"

_Is she playing with me? _His eyes narrow even more. "Do you? You did kiss me back."

She cocks her head, not a little flustered. "I was dreaming. And," she fishes around for another excuse, "the first time I met you I thought you were going to kiss me. It was in my subconscious." She taps her temple.

"Right." He tries and fails not to smirk. She gives him a final deep gaze before handing him the coffee and heading back into the kitchen, trying and failing not to blush.


End file.
